On Sunday morning, we expressed our concerns over male osprey, LM12, who had not brought a fish back to the osprey nest for more than three days. With a hungry female osprey (NC0) and newly hatched chick, the situation was looking desperate.

As a wildlife charity, we have a clear policy of not intervening in situations like this. Whilst we make every effort to create, restore and manage habitats on our reserves that will allow wildlife to thrive, we cannot and should not intervene in the lives of individual wild animals. Regardless of the resource implications this would have, to do so would be to not allow natural processes to take their course.

Life as a wild animal can be very tough and, as we know from any number of emotionally moving scenes in wildlife documentaries, it can be hard to watch. The reality is that 50-60% of young ospreys do not survive their first year of life.

It just so happens that LM12, NC0 and indeed their first chick of the season have demonstrated amazing resilience. On Sunday evening, LM12 brought a fish back to the nest – the first food for the female in 87 hours. Both adults had a much-needed feed, the osprey chick received a few bites, and we all took a great sigh of relief.

Since then, not only have several large fish been delivered to the nest by LM12, but a second chick has hatched. At 4:19AM this morning, the chick was seen fully emerged from its shell and it quickly joined its sibling in sitting upright in the morning sunshine.

This second chick has hatched from the third egg laid (which was noticeably paler than the other two). It is likely therefore that the first chick hatched from the second egg and that the first egg – laid on 4 April – may never hatch.

As always, we will continue to monitor the nest around the clock and will keep you updated on the action. In the meantime, there’s always the osprey webcam for you to watch!